zdl_cryptofandomcom-20200214-history
Flexacoin (FXC)
Basics * Founded in 2018 in New York. * From Messari (9-2019): "Flexacoin is a digital collateral token for facilitating instant cryptocurrency payments, originally developed to collateralize retail payments on the Flexa network. Flexacoin is designed to mitigate the friction between customers paying with crypto and merchants accepting fiat. Users scan a QR code at the point of sale, and the Flexa Network Protocol (FNP) trades the crypto spent for fiat which is then returned to the merchant. Flexa returns a percentage of every processed transaction to users. Flexa’s FNP uses the ERC 20-compliant token called Flexacoin for transactions and a variety of members-only network incentives. The name “Flexa” is an abbreviation of flexibility, according to the team. Flexa requires no additional hardware at the point of sale and optimizes for seamless payment and receipt for the consumer and merchant." * From CMC (9-2019): "Flexacoin (FXC) is used to stake wallets on the Flexa network. Stakers help to collateralize payments made by those wallets, and in return, they earn stake rewards based on transaction volume." * Whitepaper can be read here. * In their Reddit AMA someone asked: "What makes Flexacoin different than current PoS options like Bitpay?" They answered: "Flexa functions with most major retailers in the US (without additional equipment) and settles instantly. Bitpay builds a fee into the spread (charging you) and charges the retailer, Flexa gives you the market rate and charges the retailer. Those are the major differences." Token Sale * According to Messari the token sale was from 1-3-2019 until 1-10-2019 and has collected $14.100.000. However, on the website of Flexa itself, they write: "The Flexacoin token sale ended in December 2018. All tokens have now been distributed." * From Token Tuesdays (13-8-2019): "Rather than hosting a traditional ICO, the team conducted a private sale for $14.1 million in funding, led by Pantera Capital, 1kx, Nima Capital, Access Ventures, and other strategic partners." * Allocation of coins: 25% Merchant Development Fund 25% Developer Grants 20% Founding Team Pool 20% Token Sales 10% Network Development Fund Token details * From Token Tuesdays (13-8-2019): "Flexacoin ($FXC) is Flexa’s native token used as collateral to support seamless cryptocurrency transactions via the SPEDN application. For each transaction that occurs on the network, FXC is used as a proxy to front fiat currencies to a merchant. When the transaction is processed, Flexa receives the cryptocurrency that was spent and issues fiat to the merchant thanks to its partnership with Gemini. For individual token holders, FXC can be staked within SPEDN, granting the owner rewards based on overall transaction volume.* At the time of writing, Flexa currently supports payments in Bitcoin ($BTC), Ethereum ($ETH), Bitcoin Cash ($BCH), Litecoin ($LTC) and Gemini Dollars ($GUSD). *Please note that staking is currently not available and is expected to be rolled out towards the end of 2019." Tech * From Token Tuesdays (13-8-2019): "Flexa leverages a unique form of closed-loop payments to provide a seamless transaction process. Using traditional QR codes, Flexa verifies a user’s cryptocurrency balance against a public index rate and generates a proprietary flexcode for payment." * From Messari (9-2019): "For payments, Flexa allows users to send crypto and the Flexa Network Protocol (FNP) exchanges it for fiat via FXC to return fiat to the merchant. Every Flexa transaction has two parts: 1. A Flexible Primary Account Number (FPAN) is a one-time authorization for merchants to debit a local fiat currency against the customer’s crypto wallet balance. '' ''2. A Flexcode is a proprietary and backwards-compatible barcode format for communicating the FPAN through the merchant’s point-of-sale system. Flexa’s beta launched with support for Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ethereum." Critiques * From Token Tuesdays (13-8-2019): "As stated above, Flexacoin’s primary use is as collateral to secure network transactions. Unlike many other currencies, FXC is not intended to be used as the primary payment mechanism and can be compared to the role that MKR plays as a form of last-resort collateral in the MakerDAO ecosystem. As such, price volatility does not have an adverse (or beneficial) effect on partnered merchants. With this in mind, FXC’s current use-case may have security implications as individuals purchasing the token on secondary exchanges are likely to do so in order to earn rewards and future profits by staking in the SPEDN app." Risks While Flexa has certainly established a very robust payment mechanism, their current system places heavy reliance on Gemini to issue spot-rate conversations and ensure that transactions are processed and liquidated properly. With no mandatory KYC requirements necessary to use the SPEDN application, there remains an ongoing risk that FXC may be deemed a security by the United State’s SEC at some point in the future. Flexacoin is currently only listed on a number of obscure exchanges with only 16% of the total supply circulating on secondary markets. As such, retail investors should note that around 10B FXC will be added to the circulating supply come January 4th of 2020. While the majority of unlocked tokens (5.5B) will be held by core team members, there remains a risk that circulating supply being increased by ~63% will likely create strong sell pressure and reduced demand impact. We would also like the note that the current 24h volume for FXC is dangerously low - trading less than $10,000 per day. Again this is largely due to FXC not being traded on major exchanges. We expect this would drastically change upon the network launch and FXC is being used on a daily basis as collateral for payments at thousands of retailers across the United States and the rest of the world." Usage * In 2019 it was the 8th most traded token on DEX's Team, investors, partners, etc. Team * Tyler Spalding; CEO and co-founder * Has a team of 8 people and 15 advisors (9-2019) from all kinds of big companies (Walmart, American Express, Nike, etc. * From Token Tuesdays (13-8-2019): "Prior to founding Flexa, Tyler has had extensive experience as a serial entrepreneur and CTO for two other startups (Raise and Tastebud Technologies) combined with lead engineering roles for the United Space Alliance, US Air Force, and NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. '' ''Other notable positions include Trevor Filter’s time as a Senior Product Manager at American Express, Zack Kilgore’s role as a front-end engineer for Warby Parker and Ryan Records involvement with the rollout of Starbuck’s mobile application. All in all, out of the 8 team members currently listed, 6 of them have extensive development experience with the other two members playing crucial roles surrounding the onboarding of new merchants." * David Hoover; advisor (Consensys) Partners * According to their Reddit AMA (4-2019): "Flexa has no announced partnerships. Expect to hear more at Consensus 2019!" * But according to this blog post they work with Gemini: "For each transaction that occurs on the network, FXC is used as a proxy to front fiat currencies to a merchant. When the transaction is processed, Flexa receives the cryptocurrency that was spent and issues fiat to the merchant thanks to its partnership with Gemini." Category:Coins/Tokens